Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 42)

Stress isn’t always bad. A little bit of stress can help you stay focused, energetic, and able to meet new challenges in the workplace. It’s what keeps you on your toes during a presentation or alert to prevent accidents or costly mistakes. But in today’s hectic world, the workplace too often seems like an emotional roller coaster. Long hours, tight deadlines, and ever-increasing demands can leave you feeling worried, drained, and overwhelmed. And when stress exceeds your ability to cope, it stops being helpful and starts causing damage to your mind and body—as well as to your job satisfaction.

You can’t control everything in your work environment, but that doesn’t mean you’re powerless, even when you’re stuck in a difficult situation. If stress on the job is interfering with your work performance, health, or personal life, it’s time to take action. No matter what you do for a living, what your ambitions are, or how stressful your job is, there are plenty of things you can do to reduce your overall stress levels and regain a sense of control at work.

References:
HelpGuide.org (2024, August 21) Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., Melinda Smith, and Lawrence Robinson: Stress at Work

Offering meaningful professional development opportunities is crucial for building employees’ skill sets, performance and overall job satisfaction. However, a recent workplace trends report shows that many executives and managers believe professional development is a significant challenge to their organization’s overall success.

The Forbes Coaches Council shared 20 steps leaders can take to overcome this problem and create better opportunities for their people to develop professionally in 2025. From personalizing learning paths to leveraging external resources, the tips below can help leaders nurture a team’s growth while fostering a culture of continuous learning.

1. Budget for in-person training. To provide employees with professional growth, leaders must strategically prioritize and budget for in-person training and professional mentoring programs across the year.
2. Stop scripting development. Give people room to develop, even if that means making mistakes.
3. Share the responsibility. Professional growth is a shared responsibility between organizational leadership and the front-line staff, and senior leaders should resource individual learning and development opportunities as a priority.
4. Give everyone a voice. Ask professional development survey questions through both executive (business) and employee lenses to determine what may be needed.
5. Gather employee input. Launching initiatives based solely on what you think is best often leads to compliance, not genuine engagement. When people are invited to weigh in, they’re more likely to buy in, creating stronger alignment and support.
6. Personalize learning paths. Research indicates that applications of the Enneagram in coaching can lead to improvements in leadership versatility, communication and team effectiveness, which are crucial for organizational success.
7. Designate time for development. To foster a culture of continuous learning, consider designating specific times, such as Friday afternoons, for development.
8. Foster psychological capital. To support their people’s growth, leaders can start by fostering psychological capital—building self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience through coaching and training.
9. Ask what your team wants to develop. If you align professional development with your team members’ personal goals, each team member is going to be more motivated to do it.
10. Consider alternative growth methods. Consider all the ways someone can grow. Lateral moves, special committees, shadowing and mentoring are all opportunities for employees to gain new exposure and expand their skills and interests.
11. Implement learning cohorts. One of the biggest opportunities to make leadership development more accessible to a wider group of employees is through technology.
12. Pair experiential learning with leadership coaching. Offer stretch projects and cross-functional collaboration while using leadership coaching to improve performance, sharpen decision-making skills and foster resilience.
13. Find outside resources and organizations. Many platforms, such as edX or General Assembly, even offer free online workshops you can share with your team.
14. Establish a formal mentoring program. Whether peer-to-peer, first-line and leadership or cross-functional, a formalized mentoring program provides a sanctioned way for people to learn at every level.
15. Shift the organizational mindset. When the organization truly supports the practice and implementation of new learning, growth is possible. Without space to practice, the status quo remains.
16. Take an active role. Create structured mentorship programs, skill-sharing initiatives and dedicated learning time.
17. Provide ‘heat’ projects; encourage intentionality. Spend less on info-packed classes. Instead, give emerging leaders “heat” projects to build greater capacity to deal with complexity.
18. Highlight on-the-job learning. Hands-on training is a critical development tool that builds skills and leadership. Similarly, by framing daily work as development, leaders foster a culture that aligns growth with organizational success and can teach adaptability, problem-solving and collaboration.
19. Facilitate relationships between co-workers. If leaders prioritize mentorship by providing a little time, guidance and a simple resource, they can make progress toward meeting the need for professional development quickly and at scale.
20. Guide teams to lead from the inside out. By guiding their teams to lead from the inside out—reflecting on their growth and actions—they create a space where personal transformation sparks organizational change.

References:
Forbes (2025, January 6) Forbes Coaches Council: 20 Ways to Boost Professional Development Opportunities for Employees

Navigating a relationship with a manager you perceive as ineffective or unqualified can be frustrating, but it can also be a catalyst for growth. Rather than allowing frustration to erode your engagement and productivity, shift your focus to what you can control. You may not have control over who you report to, but you can control the beliefs, assumptions, and narratives you create about the situation, as well as the impact of your behavior on those around you.  

Here are six steps you can take to shift the dynamic.

Reflect on what’s really bothering you. Is it a disagreement over tasks, or a misalignment in values? Sometimes, it’s not about your manager’s competency but rather your own expectations and responses.

Take ownership of your part in the relationship. Consider how actions like disengaging or reacting defensively might contribute to the strain. Think about what this resistance might be costing you in terms of personal growth and team harmony.

Align your approach with your values. If transparency matters to you but feels absent in your working relationship, explore how you can model this value in your behavior—even if it’s not fully reciprocated by your boss.

Reframe the story you’re telling yourself. Look for places where the differences with your manager are complimentary or identify ways in which you are uniquely qualified to support your leader. When you find common ground with your manager, you increase productivity and improve your relationship, as well as decrease your stress level. Identify what your manager is contributing that is unique to the team.

Open a dialogue. Consider initiating a positive conversation, expressing a desire to strengthen collaboration and align on expectations. Simple questions like “How can we support each other better?” or “What priorities should I focus on?” can foster a clearer understanding of expectations and build a more constructive relationship.

Be part of the solution. Look beyond your day-to-day frustrations and think more broadly about how your behavior contributes to your leadership brand and the contribution you want to make. This will help you increase your influence, promote a positive environment, and create business value.

If, after having an honest conversation with yourself and your manager, you still believe they’re the core issue, it might be time to move on.

References:
Harvard Business Review (2024, November 14) Sarah Mann and Luis Velasquez: When Your Manager is Ineffective – and You Feel Stuck